The Beginning

RSVP has begun by supporting the Mihabura primary school.  Mihabura is a Pentecostal Church owned primary school, located in Bugarama in Southern Rwanda.  Our hope is to include all the schools in the village as the charity develops.

 Where we are now

All Rwandan P6 children take a national test to compete for those precious, but elusive, secondary school places.  Since the children are very poor and can’t afford school stationery, curriculum books or food, they are almost automatically excluded.

RSVP has set up a school book program to give the children a better chance to pass the P6 national test and a better chance to obtain a place at a secondary school.

 In addition RSVP have:

• introduced a school meals program that currently covers children in P4, P5 and P6
• provided funds for an annual school trip, the main aim of which is to increase the awareness the children have of HIV.

In the first year of the project absenteeism rates have dropped from 8% to less than 1%.   The National Test pass rate increased from 40% to 43%. RSVP is confident this will improve further over time.

Improvement has also been achieved in primary school completion rates and in the proportion of young people with basic HIV education and numeracy/literacy skills.

The church has also played it’s part in improving the school facilities.  They purchased a second hand computer, which the school can use of for administration and for producing teaching and test materials.

The future

RSVP plan to measure the children’s height/weight, regional and national exam results, attendance rates and drop out rates regularly to demonstrate the evidence based benefits of the project.

One of the biggest challenges facing the teaching staff is the condition of the current school building. 

RSVP have been given a plot of land on which we hope, with your help, to build a modern, fit for purpose school.

The location

The map below shows Bugarama (highlighted by the red arrow in the bottom-left) where the school is located.